Then They Do
by nannygirl
Summary: Red Forman has finally gotten his house kid-free but can't help but think back to when his kids were younger. Three shot very loosely based off the song by Trace Adkins.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing. Not the show nor the song that the story is based off of._

_**Author's Note: **__Hello everyone! I know it's been quite awhile since I've posted anything and I do apologize for that but you know how it is when school comes around and most of the time is spent studying and reading especially when midterms are coming up this week—not fun. But enough about me how are you all? Hope everything is well! So today I wanted to share with you a new short little story I came up with a few weeks back. It's actually been split up into three parts because once again I ended up with a HUGE word count so couldn't post it as a regular oneshot as I had originally planned. I hope though that posting t in three parts isn't a problem for you all, just thought it would be easier to read if the story was broken down in parts and you didn't have to read the whole thing in one seating. This first chapter is really short and more of an opening scene and kinda sets everything up the next two are really a lot better! And longer! Plus I'll give you a little sneakpeak about the second chapter…it's got a big flashback scene! I love flashbacks :-) So I hope you all will come back for that review and leave a few reviews if you can for this short try to post that next chapter in the upcoming days and of course the more reviews the quicker the update right? *HintHint* Thanks to everyone at That '70s Fan Fic Board (link in profile page, come on over!) you all are awesome. And a big and special Thank you to Marla's Lost for all the help she gave me with this story, seriously without her it would still be in my USB and I'd be debating about posting it at all. You're the best Marla! Well this AN is getting really long so I'll stop here. Hope you like! Please remember it does get better! Enjoy!_

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><p>Then They Do<p>

Red Forman sat contently at the kitchen table, still in his pajamas and bathrobe and the day's paper in his hand as the wonderful smells of home filled the air around him. A few feet away from him, Kitty—in her own night clothes and robe—stood behind the stove cooking up the breakfast food that was sending off the comforting aromas. From the scents alone it could easily be detected that today's breakfast would be consisting of buttermilk pancakes, eggs—cooked over easy—and of course, bacon.

Humming along to a song that could only be heard inside her head, Kitty piled the food onto the yellow colored plated and carried the dish over to Red.

"Here you are. A great, big, wonderful breakfast for my great, big, wonderful, husband." She said happily as she placed the breakfast plate on the table top and continued to smile, "I added an extra pancake and two extra pieces of bacon because I know you worked up quite an appetite last night."

Moving his paper down so that he could see his giggling wife, Red gave his own smirk, "That's right and I plan on working up another one later on today."

"Oh Red." She said giggling again and now starting to blush.

Just as Red joined in in his wife's laughter with his own chuckle a loud buzzing sound drifted into the room causing the couple to stifle their laughter. Kitty turned away from Red and over in the direction that the noise had come from before turning back again.

"That's the laundry. I better go move the clothes in the washer over to the dryer before they end up staying in there for the rest of the day. But you stay here." She instructed then placed a quick, loving kiss on his balding head, "And eat up. You're going to need plenty of energy for today's activities."

Red shook his head at the words but couldn't help the smirk that crawled onto his lips when he heard his wife release her girlish giggle, that he'd fallen in love all those years ago, as she headed her way down the basement stairs.

Once Kitty was out of sight Red folded up his paper and put it off to the side so that his main focus could be on the breakfast plate infront of him. Grabbing his knife and fork he began to cut into the stack of fresh and still warm pancakes. However as soon as Red started to move his forkful of pancakes upwards and to his mouth, the atmosphere of the room caught his attention and caused his arm to freeze it's motions.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

The kind of quiet where if this were some horror movie the killer would pop out from some hidden area with weapon in hand. Obviously this wasn't a horror movie so Red had no reason to even think about some killer sneaking out from some secluded shadow. The only killer he really had to worry about was the one who would come in and 'kill' his moment of silence…then again that person wouldn't so much a killer as they would be a dumbass. Even then though, Red knew the chances of any of the dumbasses coming by to 'kill' his solitary moment were pretty slim.

Each of them were now off and busy with their own lives. Sure, they still dropped by from time to time but lately their trips over here had become less frequent than before.

Red, of course, had no problem with this. He finally had his house back, no dumbass kids, and just Kitty as his company. It was the way he'd always wanted things. The same couldn't exactly be said for Kitty but she was slowly getting used to coming home to an empty nest.

It had taken a long time for this nest to get completely emptied out and it didn't even happen in one big swoop; it seemed to have cleared out gradually dragging on the process and making Red a very impatient person. It was a miracle he hadn't just kicked the baby birds out of the nest and just hoped they flew. But while he had been eager to have the house exterminated for dumbasses once and for all Red did somewhat enjoy watching the population of the pests shrink and his house gradually become his again.

Almost one by one the rooms in the house became what Kitty said was 'empty' but Red had called 'peaceful.'

First there had been the room upstairs—excluding his and Kitty's, of course—when Eric and Laurie had moved out of the house for good, this time leaving only a few childhood mementos in their old rooms. Then it had been the dinning room; less people living in the house meant less need to have meals at such a large table. The room was still however, used for Christmas, thanksgiving, and other holidays alike. Next was the living room and Red's den. Neither one of those rooms ever really got as bad as the other rooms in the house, but it was often that the noise from the other rooms would drift off and into these other two.

And then finally the basement.

The basement had been the last room to clear out along with the longest. And still it wasn't completely cleared out the way Eric and Laurie's rooms were, plenty of items that looked to be junk in Red's eyes continued to fill the room. It wasn't just forgotten items that could be found down there though. Every month the room received at least a handful of visits, sometimes with just one visitor other times with the whole Looney Tunes cast. But then they'd all leave again and the basement would go back to its soundless mode just like the other rooms of the house.

Yet there was always one room in the house that never seemed to be able to remain silent for more than a minute or two. The same room that Red was sitting in now. The kitchen.

There was always something going on in there. It could have been Kitty cooking or baking while singing or humming aloud as she'd been doing moments ago. It could have been the family meals where days were discussed. The kitchen was also, now that Red thought about it, one of the rooms that his two biological children and sometimes even adopted son, would argue the most. Red couldn't even began to count the number of times he'd walked in and saw the table full of kids—more than half of them not his—stuffing their faces with food he'd just bought the day before or the times that the side glass door slide open to an unannounced guest who quickly made themselves at home by helping themselves to whatever was on the table.

And even now during present times, this room continued to be the one room out of all the others that received the most visits. Most of those visits still being unannounced but most of the time being one of the kids coming over to simply talk with Kitty for a few minutes.

Red doubted the word 'quiet' ever even crossed a persons mind when they were inside this kitchen. Especially during the mornings, those early rush of mornings of a school day...

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>__Sooo what did you think? Love it? Hate it? Already want part two? Well you know what to do! Just leave a review! Hey that all rhymes…sorta lol. Really hope this opening chapter wasn't too bad, I promise it gets better in the next chapter…remember flashback scene and pretty much everyone is there :-)!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, see you next time, take care, and have a nice day!_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note:**__ Hello everyone! First off let me say…Wow! The reviews that all of you left were just so wonderful and sweet…I honestly wasn't expecting that type of response because the first chapter was so short and just had RK so each of your reviews truly made my day. Thank you so much to each and every one of you! Hugs and brownies to you all! Brownies with the special ingredient…love! :-) lol. Hope you all enjoy this chapter just as much as the first—and of course feel free to review this chapter even if you hadn't reviewed the first, you'll still get a special brownie *wink* Well don't want to ramble mostly because I wanna go to sleep before having to wake up and stufy for midterms (yay, I know), but just wanna let you know the third and last chapter will be posted sometime soon and thanks again to Marla's Lost for her help on this story, appreciate it so very much! And again thank you to all of you who have and reviewed already you're all awesome! On with the story! Hope you like! Enjoy!_

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><p><em>1971<em>

It was Monday morning and just like millions of other families throughout the country, the members of The Forman Family were starting off their work/school week by sitting at their kitchen table and eating their breakfast together—well at least half of the family; the male half.

Father and son that were seated at the table enjoying their morning meal together. The word 'together' being used only because the two were both seated and eating only a foot or two away from each other and not much for any other reason. Red had his eyes glued onto the day's paper whilst occasionally bringing his coffee mug up to his lips but Eric didn't even seem to notice his father in the room at all. Instead the young boy's attention remained on a sheet of notebook paper he was rapidly scribbling on while at the same time trying his best to make sure the paper remained unnoticed.

Eric was feeling quite lucky at the moment, so far no one had said anything about the paper and it didn't look like anyone was going too. After all his father's interest had been on the newspaper from the second he walked into the kitchen and his nosy, tattle tale of a sister was nowhere to be seen. It looked like this time he was actually going to get away with something with no lecture, no disappointed looks, no nothing!

At that thought Eric grinned proudly and unfortunately didn't see his mother walking closer to him with her coffee cup in hand and a curious frown on her face.

"What are you working on sweetie?" she asked in a tone that matched her inquisitive expression.

Eric nearly jumped in his seat at his mother's voice but he tired to remain calm as he turned himself to look at her,

"Nothing…"he replied hoping not to sound too nervous about lying to his mother, "Nothing, Mom…really."

Not quite convinced Kitty continued to frown slightly, "It doesn't sound like it's nothing…"

"But it is." Eric said while covering the paper with his arms.

Kitty pursed her lips together, "Can I see it?"

"No." Eric answered almost too quickly.

"Why not…" his mother started to ask but a sudden idea in her head suddenly stopped her curiosity and made her grin, "Oh I know, you're planning my Mother's Day present aren't you?"

A small indented frown appeared on Eric's forehead, "Mom, it's March."

The smile on Kitty's face only grew, "And it is so sweet of you to get such a big head start."

"Yeah, well…" Eric said still feeling guilty about lying to his mother and the quick kiss she placed on the top of his head did little to nothing in helping with the emotion.

"So." Kitty began to say as she sat herself down in usual seat at the kitchen table, her smile even bigger than before, "Can I see what you were writing now?"

"Wha…what?" her son replied sounding and looking very surprised.

He thought once she said it was something for the still far away holiday and he agreed the subject would be dropped and his paper would be forgotten or at least left alone by those in the room. But apparently he'd thought wrong.

"I know you said it was for Mother's Day but I thought that maybe you could use a little help and, well really who knows me better than me?" Kitty asked before letting out a small giggle that was cut off when another thought came to her, "Oo or if you don't need any help maybe it could just be a little sneak peak like they do with the movies."

Seeing his mother get so excited made Eric feel even worse. He wanted to tell her that he really wasn't working on a Mother's Day present for her but at the same time he didn't want to tell her what he was actually working on.

"Um no thanks Mom…I think I've got it. I don't need any help right now." Eric started to say as he slid the sheet of paper, that was still under his forearms, closer to him with each word he said, "And…uh I really want this to be a surprise…and…"

As he struggled to think of the next thing to say Eric never noticed how half of his paper was hanging off the table or how close his arms were to the tables' rounded edge. And so when he moved his arms back and closer to his chest another time they moved off the table completely making Eric jerk downwards just abit; however that small fall was the least of Eric's worries. When Eric's arms slid their way off the tabletop at that same moment they'd lost their hold on the notebook paper and the lone sheet slipped off the table and head towards the titled floor.

Eric could only sit there and watch as the sheet of paper glided almost gracefully in the air until it softly landed on the floor between his mother and himself. He wanted to reach out and grab it as it was flying in the air or even snatch it up the second it hit the ground but for some reason he couldn't. He felt frozen and panicked and those feelings only increased when he saw his mother lean down and take hold of the paper.

With her grin remaining in place Kitty moved her gaze onto the sheet of paper that she still thought had something to do with her Mother's Day gift; but as she looked over the paper and saw what was really written on it her smile dropped and was gradually replaced by a small frown.

"Oh." Kitty said, her eyes still on Eric's paper, in a tone that Eric didn't quite recognize.

Not being able to identify the tone of voice his mother was using didn't worry Eric too much, he was more concerned about what would happen next. He hoped 'Oh.' Would be it and she would hand his paper back to him not saying another word about it…at least not now, not in front of his father.

Whether that would have happened or not, it would never be known nor did it seem to matter when Red lowered the newspaper in hands just slightly and looked over at his wife and son.

The sudden quietness in the room that had filled the room—back when Eric's paper fell off the table and the moments after—had made Red suspicious causing him to take a break from his reading and turning his attention on his family. Almost instantly he saw the lined paper in his wife's hands and though he had to lean in a bit closer to get a better look it didn't take long for him to figure out what it was. A frown soon made its way onto Red's forehead but had appeared at a much quicker rate than Kitty's and had much deeper lines, making it look much angrier and scarier than hers.

Red kept his eyes on his son even as he reached over and he took the paper from his wife, "Eric, what is this?"

"It's um it's math, Dad." Eric replied; it was the truth but probably not the answer Red was looking for and yet for some reason Eric continued to add to it, "See math is the one with the numbers and the reading has the words, science is kinda mix of both…"

"I know it's math, Eric." Red stated, interrupting Eric's rambling, "I mean what kind of assignment is this?"

Eric stiffened at his father's glare and decided to this time give him the answer he wanted, "It's homework. Homework that was given on Friday, sir."

"Homework that was given on Friday." Red repeated sounding almost disappointed but then changing back to his previous and firmer tone, "There's a reason why it's called homework, Eric."

"Yeah, I know Dad. And I'm doing the work here at home so technically…" the point Eric was trying to make was quickly lost when he caught the look Red was sending him; he quickly shifted his gaze downwards and changed his reply, "I should have done it earlier."

Seeing this as a good place to end this conversation and move onto another Kitty spoke up with her smile back in it's place, "Ok see Red, Eric already knows that he should have done his homework earlier. So problem solved. Now who wants more pancakes?"

Despite the cheerful tone that Kitty spoke in neither one of the Forman men even glanced her way. Red continued to scowl, an upset scowl direct towards at Eric while Eric kept his eyes on the plate of food he hadn't touched much since he was working on his homework.

"If you knew you should have done this earlier why didn't you?" Red questioned, never noticing his wife slump her shoulders and nervously move her fingers up to her forehead.

Looking up at his father Eric knew he was in trouble…heck he knew it even before he looked up at him. He hadn't finished his homework the night before, he'd lied to his mother, and he'd made two 'snarky' remarks well one and half. Right now Eric was beginning to think it would just be best to tell the truth and get this over with rather than sink deeper into trouble.

"I forgot about it." came Eric's honest response.

But from the grown frown on Red's face it looked like honestly was not the best policy this time around.

"You forgot?" Red asked in disbelief, "Eric, do you know what happens when you forget to do your homework?"

"This." Eric muttered; half of him hoping his father hadn't heard and the other half not caring much since he didn't think he could get into any more trouble than he was in now.

Red had heard Eric's murmur and the one word caused his stare to become even more intense than before.

"You forget to do your homework Eric," he began to say while pointing his index finger—from the hand that still held the homework sheet—at Eric, "and you can forget about having a good future."

Eric shifted his eyes downwards again but this time it wasn't done out of shame but as a precaution—he didn't want his father to catch a hint of annoyance he may have let slip out on his face. He knew he had to think about his future, Red was constantly reminding him this, and he did think about his future every now and then but at the same time he didn't see why he had to think so much about the future if it was the _future_.

Of course Eric knew a response like this would not make his father happy so he just nodded his head and replied, "I know, Dad."

"Apparently you don't." Red was quick to retort, "Because if you did you would have finished this homework sooner. And if you really do 'know' then your idea of a good future must be flipping burgers at Fatso Burger." He gave a small sigh, "Eric, you're gonna be thirteen in a year…"

"Two years." Kitty corrected; she obviously was not a fan of her baby boy growing up so fast.

Not making a comment on his wife's correction, Red went on "The point is, you're growing up. You're on your way to becoming a man and being a man means be responsible..." Red saw Eric open his mouth but already knew what his was son was going to say, "And not just saying 'I know." He pointed out and Eric swiftly closed his mouth.

"You need to show people that you know and not just say it. You know you're supposed to finish your homework the night before, and you finish it that night instead of rushing through it at the last minute the next morning."

"I…"Eric suddenly realized what he was about to say and stopped himself room doing so, "Yes, Dad."

Though he was still wearing the scowl, Red nodded his balding head. It looked like the discussion was just about over however Eric wanted to make one point before letting the subject be dropped.

"But I just want to say that I didn't mean to forget to do the assignment." He shared out loud, "Really…I…Mom, remember yesterday Hyde came over and we said we were going over to Kelso's to finish up our math homework?"

Kitty moved her eyebrows just abit closer to each other but still moved her head up and down, "I remember. But then why didn't you do it over at the Kelso's?"

"Well, we planned on doing it…really…but when me and Hyde got there Kelso's parents weren't home. But all of his brothers were." Eric explained and then paused as he debated telling his parents the next part. It could make them never allow him to go back to the Kelso Residence but then again it could maybe make them understand where he was coming from just a little bit more.

With a nod of his head Eric decided to tell. "They had brought their water hose from the backyard into the living room and used it to turn their living room staircase into a waterslide…we got kinda distracted with…that."

Red and Kitty stared back at their son looking only slightly stunned by his story. Sure, making an indoor waterslide with a living room staircase sounded insane but the couple had known the Kelso Family for several years now and they quickly had learned that the word 'insane'—along with 'dangerous,' 'crazy,' and 'stupid'—couldn't be found in the Kelso Family Dictionary.

While Red rolled his eyes at the mere thought of that moron infested house, Kitty blinked her eyes a few times as she tried to gather up her thoughts before speaking.

"Now see it could have been a lot worse. We could have had a flooded living room right now." Kitty pointed out, giving a small giggle while looking to her husband,

"But instead we have a son who just _lied to his mother_," Kitty went on this time looking at Eric as she said this, reminding him that she hadn't forgotten about that, "And forgot to do his homework the night before." She added, her eyes now back on her husband, "But he knows he made a mistake and should've done it last night and I'm sure none of this will happen again, right honey?"

Seeing that his mother's eyes were back on him Eric quickly nodded his head, "Yes." He answered but wasn't sure if that was the right way to reply, "No. I mean yes…I...It won't happened again, Dad. I promise."

Eric's statement managed to make a happier grin appear on Kitty's face, however the same couldn't be said for Red whose poker face remained in place.

"Well Eric, you're right." Red began and confusion right away filled Eric; but before her could ask anything Red continued, "It won't happen again. Because before you go anywhere near Curly or Larry you'll have to show either me or your mother your finished homework assignments. Starting today."

"And ending tomorrow." Kitty added with a smile as she looked at her son.

Frowning a deep frown Red turned to his wife, "Kitty, I just said starting today, meaning starting today and staying that way from here on out."

"But you didn't say that last part." She reminded still smiling, "So I added ending tomorrow."

Red continued to scowl; he didn't want this punishment lasting only two damn days, how was Eric going to learn a lesson in two days? But it didn't look like he was going to get his way, of carrying on the punishment until Eric graduated high school, either. Some type of compromise was going to have be made.

"Two months." Red stated.

And Kitty quickly shot it down, "A week."

"One month."

"Two weeks."

"Fine." Red grumbled which made his wife's smile grow.

Silently Eric had been sitting at the sidelines as he watched his parents go back and forth trying to agree on an ending date for his sentence—he didn't want to say even a word in fear of the date extension being pushed farther back. Even now as it seemed like they'd come to an agreement for two weeks Eric was still a bit nervous about asking the question he had; however when he caught a glance of the face of his father's watch he realized he was running out of time.

"So um Dad, can I have my homework back?"

With the same scowl that he'd put on from the second he saw the homework assignment, still in place and still not fading even a tad, Red looked over at his son then down at the sheet of paper—which remained in his hand—and then back up at Eric. Out of fear Eric took a big gulp as he looked at his father's stern green eyes with his own frightened ones.

"I shouldn't give this back to you." He began to say, lifting the paper slightly, "I should just let you face the actual consequences of what happens when you forget to do your homework…"

"But Dad…" Eric began to protest.

"But." Red added before Eric could get another word in, "You failing a class isn't going to do anyone any good. Especially not you. Here."

Red then handed the notebook paper to him in anything but a gentle manner and with a somewhat shaky hand Eric reached up and took it. As soon as the paper was out of his grasp Red closed his hand into a fist with the exception of his index finger that he left sticking out and pointing in Eric's direction.

"But I want you to remember this is still homework. So whatever you finish here is all you finish. I don't want you working on this on the way to school or when you get to school. Just like I don't want you working on this to make your sister or me late. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Eric was quick to reply with a nod.

Nodding his head Red muttered "Good." And then went back to looking at the newspaper just as his wife stood up from her seat at the table.

"And I am going to make you some extra chocolate chip pancakes to help fuel up your little brain so you can solve those mean and nasty fractions."

"Uh thanks Mom." Eric said feeling abit awkward hearing his mother say he had a 'little brain.'

Kitty, however, didn't seem to even noticed the embarrassed tone of her son's and she placed a quick kiss on the top of his head before walking over to the stove to get started on another batch of pancakes.

Just as Kitty had brought the mixing bowl where she'd made the previous batch of pancakes closer to her, something on the other side of the kitchen's sliding door caught her eye and brought her actions to a halt. A few seconds had passed as Kitty continued to stare outside with her brow slightly wrinkled, but before the seconds could turn into minutes Kitty realized what the small figure was outside…or rather who the small figure was outside.

Instantly her smile sprang back onto her face and she walked over to the glass door—putting off the new batch of chocolate chip pancakes for just a little bit.

"It looks like we've got company." Kitty said cheerfully to her family before sliding the kitchen door to the right, "Good morning, Steven."

"Good morning, Mrs. Forman." came eleven year old Hyde's reply as he stepped into the room, his famous shades clipped onto the color of his t-shirt.

Smile still in place Kitty looked down at the young boy, "What are you up to this morning?"

"Not much." Hyde answered with a shrug, "I came to see if Eric was walking to school to today so we could walk there together."

"Oh well that is so sweet." Kitty gushed but couldn't help her shrinking smile as she continued with her response, "But I'm afraid not. They're saying it supposed to rain and the clouds already look to be coming in, so Red's dropping Eric and Laurie off at school on his way to work."

"Oh okay." Hyde said with a nod, hoping his voice didn't let on to any of his disappointment; he really needed to work some more eon this Zen stuff, "I'll see you in class then, Forman."

Hyde gave a small wave to his best friend, who didn't even notice Hyde come in as he was so concentrated on his homework assignment, and then turned back around to where he'd just come in from. He had his hand latched onto the handle of the glass door and was about to slide it open and to the side when a voice behind him spoke up causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Steven, you're not going to school like that, are you?" the feminine, motherly voice of Kitty's questioned.

Looking down at his clothes Hyde didn't see much of a problem with what he was wearing. Maybe the fact that the gray hooded sweater he was wearing was a bit faded and looked to be two times larger than his actual size; but it was one of the best sweaters he had, even if it was a hand-me-down from one of his cousins.

Before Hyde could reply to Kitty's first question, the mother hen had another question enter her mind and she wasted no time in asking it.

"Where's your jacket, honey?"

"This is my jacket." came Hyde's response as his fingers curled up and grasped the edges of the sweater's sleeves, that were already covering more than half of each of his hands.

Kitty smiled while shaking her head softly, "Oh sweetie, that's not a jacket, that's a sweater. Didn't you bring anything thicker?" she asked but again didn't wait for any type of answer, "I can't let you walk to school, especially with the chance of rain so high today, in only a sweater like that. You need…oh a raincoat! Did you bring your raincoat, honey?"

"Um…no." Hyde replied, deciding to leave out the part about him thinking raincoats were only worn by dorks and the part about him not owning his own raincoat. "I didn't bring a raincoat, Mrs. Forman."

"Would you like to borrow one of Eric's?" Kitty asked and one could almost hear the hopefulness in her voice.

Hyde gave a smirk as he thought about the pile of raincoats his friend must have had; after all for every Christmas without fail there was a new raincoat waiting for him under the tree. Holding back a laugh while he pictured the expression on Eric's face when he unwrapped his brand new raincoat Christmas morning, Hyde shook his head slightly before answering Kitty's question.

"No thanks, Mrs. Forman." He said, "I think I'll be okay."

Kitty stared back at the young boy still unconvinced on the thought of letting him leave her house without something heavier than a hooded sweater. By the mere faint frown indented on the older woman's forehead Hyde could tell that Kitty was still worried about him. And she really didn't have to be. At least that's what Hyde thought.

"I'll walk fast." He added hoping to bring some reassurance to her, "And if it does start to rain…I still have my sweater."

"But Steven, a sweater won't keep you dry from the rain." Kitty began to say, "Well sure it'll protect you from getting wet right away from the rain but then the rain will get soaked up in the sweater's material and you'll be stuck wearing a drenched sweater all day. And then wearing a cold, wet sweater in those freezing classrooms you could end up in the hospital with pneumonia…"

Before her imagination got too out of hand, Kitty shook her head as if trying to erase the images, "No, no. You are getting dropped off at school with Eric and Laurie."

Hyde stood there in both shock and confusion. Just seconds ago Kitty had been offering to lend him one of Eric's old Christmas presents so that he could walk himself to school and now she was telling him that he was going to get a ride there with the rest of her family…how had that happened?

"Mrs. Forman, it's fine really." Hyde started to protested, "I don't wanna be a bother and…"

Smiling one of her bright smiles Kitty waved her hand at him, "Oh it's no bother at all. Right Red?"

Red shifted his paper downwards just slightly so that he could get a look at both his wife and his son's friend. He'd only been half listening to their conversation but when he heard the words 'Right Red?' he knew it meant his wife was waiting for him to back her up and agree with whatever it was she was stating.

"Right, Kitty." Red answered and not just because it was what his wife wanted to hear but also because he really did agree with what she was saying.

It hadn't taken him very long to figure out what Hyde and Kitty had been discussing and why they'd brought him into the conversation; he got most of the message from the looks on each of their faces alone. And while the thought of having to take care of a kid that wasn't even his made Red want to let out a loud and annoyed groan, the fact that this kid was Steven kept him from making any aggravated noise.

Steven was a good kid who just got stuck with a crummy set of dumbass parents. He needed to be looked after and taken care of so that he wouldn't end up being a dumbass too. The world already had enough dumbasses, it didn't need another.

Kitty's grin became even larger when she heard her husband's words, "See, it's all settled. Now, why don't you sit down here?" she suggested before lightly pushing the boy into the open seat next to Red.

"But…" Hyde began to argue only to be cut off by the balding man who was once again behind the open newspaper.

"Steven, take it from a man who's been married to her for over fifteen years." Red started to say, his eyes remaining fixed on an article he was reading, "It's not worth it."

Letting out a small sigh Hyde decided to follow the older man's words, he looked over at Kitty and couldn't help the twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"Thanks Mrs. Forman." He told her in an earnest voice.

"You are very welcome, Steven." Kitty replied and then leaned down to place a kiss on the top of his head, "And you are never any kind of bother to us."

She had said those last words to him in a softer voice so that it wouldn't be heard by the whole room, just before she straightened herself back up and walked over to the kitchen stove again. This time though, the corners of his mouth did more than twitching and actually created the slightest of smiles on his lips.

"Steven, did you already eat breakfast?" Kitty asked as she made her second attempt to get started on the new batch of pancakes.

"Um sorta." Hyde answered which wasn't a lie. He'd eaten an apple he'd brought home yesterday from school before he walked over to the Forman house but didn't think a lone apple qualified as breakfast to Kitty Forman.

Having a hunch that Hyde's 'sorta' was leaning more towards a 'no' than a 'yes' but not wanting to pester him about it too much, Kitty looked over at him again being sure to keep her smile in it's place.

"Well, would it be okay if you had a second breakfast?" she asked and before he could decline her offer added, "It's chocolate chip pancakes."

With his stomach already beginning to growl at the thought of the pancakes, Hyde smiled but tried not to let out to how excited he really was, "Yeah, I guess that'd be okay. Thanks Mrs. Forman."

Kitty returned the smile and then went back to preparing the batter. Once Kitty's eyes were off him Hyde looked over at his friend who had yet to say one word to him and instead remained focused on the sheet of paper in front of him. Curiously, Hyde leaned closer to where Eric was sitting to try to get a glance at the paper and when he got a look of the math problems written on the sheet he brows knitted closer together.

"Forman, is that the homework we got yesterday?" he asked surprised that his friend was just working on it now.

"Yes it is." Kitty answered for her son so that he could continue to work on the assignment, "Eric forgot about the homework last night and so he's finishing it up now. What about you Steven? Did you finish that assignment?"

"Well Mrs. Forman, I can honestly say that I don't feel the need to finish it up right now." Hyde said with a smile.

And while Kitty didn't seem to catch the true meaning behind Hyde's words her son did and it made him at last look up from his homework and send a frown towards his curly-haired friend.

"Yeah, that's because you never feel the need to finish any of your homework." Eric muttered and then went back to his math problems.

Nonchalantly, Hyde shrugged his shoulder while at the same time silently feeling relieved that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Forman had heard Eric's mumbled words otherwise he'd be stuck doing the dumb assignment too.

Suddenly there was a small knocking noise heard and three heads looked up and over at the kitchen's glass door.

"Oh it's Donna." Kitty announced happily and not a second later Eric's head shot up from his homework faster than a bullet being let out from a gun.

Red, meanwhile, wasn't having the same reaction as the rest of his family, "Jeeze with all these kids knocking at our door you'd think it was Halloween."

Kitty shook her head at her husbands grumbling as she went to open the door for the young girl, "At least they're knocking, Red." She reminded but Red only grumbled more though it went ignored by those in the room.

"Hello there Donna." Kitty greeted the tall redheaded girl with a smile, "How're you doing?"

"Hi, Mrs. Forman. I'm fine, thanks." Donna said as she took a step or two into the kitchen.

Smiling still, Kitty nodded her head, "That's good. What can we do for you this morning, dear?"

"Um…" Young Donna started to say, feeling more than abit nervous about what she had planned on saying next—especially since she was standing only a foot or two away from Mr. Forman, "I was wondering if I could get a ride to school from you or Mr. Forman."

"Well of course you can." Kitty replied, always happy to help one of her neighbors, a tiny frown however appeared a few seconds after her answer, "But honey where are your parents?"

Now feeling more relaxed, since Mrs. Forman had quickly agreed and Mr. Forman hadn't gotten mad (yet), Donna began her explanation about her crazy parents. She may have only been eleven years old but she already knew her parents were not just weird like any normal parents but insane too.

"My dad already left to work and my mom can't find her keys." She informed.

"Oh, that's happened to me hundreds of times." Kitty shared with a small giggle, "Where did your mom last have them?"

"In her pant pocket." stated Donna, "They're still in there too. I tried to tell her but then she went to check the pockets of all her other pants except the ones she's wearing now. And I didn't wanna be late for school."

Behind his paper Red shook his head at his neighbor's antics while beside him Hyde was doing abit of snickering at the image his friend had painted. Luckily neither of the females in the room noticed either action and instead carried on with their conversation. And of course Eric was back to busying himself with his homework.

"Well like I said, Donna, you are more than welcome to ride along to school today." Kitty reminded while patting the young girl on the shoulders, "It'll probably be a few more minutes before you all leave, so why don't you sit down? I'm just getting started on a new batch of chocolate chip pancakes."

A smile quickly appeared on Donna's lips and though she had already eaten breakfast at her own house, she sat down in the open seat between Hyde and Eric. After all no one, especially no kid, could ever turn down chocolate chips pancakes.

Seeing another child sit down at her kitchen table made the grin on Kitty's face grow and she was just about skipping her way to the stove as she hummed a happy tune; though the same could not be said for her husband. As soon as Red saw another child—another hungry mouth, that he was not required to feed—sit down at his kitchen table, he scowled then eyed his happy wife and not wasting another second stood up from his chair and marched over to her.

As Red practically stomped his way over to the stove, the children at the round table never noticed him and just went on with their greetings.

"Hi guys." Donna said with smile.

Hyde smirked in return, "Hey Donna."

"Donna, hey!" Eric said in the opposite way that Hyde had said his greeting.

While Hyde was more of a laid back and cool welcome Eric was more nervous but that was mostly due to the fact that he was once again trying to hide his homework assignment. He didn't want Donna to know he hadn't finished his homework from the weekend. What if it made her think he was lazy or dumb?

"I mean hi." Eric said trying to sounded less nervous, but then realized he didn't know what else to say, "Hey."

The redhead let out a small laugh, "Yeah you said that already. Are you ok?"

"Me?" Eric asked as he again covered his paper with his forearm, "Yeah, yeah. Are you okay?"

Ignoring Eric's question Donna tried to get a closer look at whatever it was that Eric was trying to hide from her. A few seconds of trying to get even a glimpse of the writing paper Donna's eyes landed on a fraction and right away figured out what else was written on the notebook paper.

"Is that homework from Mr. Wilson's class?"

"Um…" Eric struggled with what to say next.

He didn't want to admit to Donna that he had forgotten about the assignment yet at the same time he didn't want to lie to her either.

Luckily his best friend decided to step in and help him out a bit.

"Yup." Hyde said causally with a nod of his head.

Frowning with both surprise and a hint of anger Eric turned to his friend—forgetting about the notebook paper in the process— and exclaimed, "Hyde!"

Young Hyde only shrugged his shoulders in response. Meanwhile, when Donna saw that Eric was now distracted and had left the paper unattended she reached over and took hold of the sheet so she could get a better look at it.

"My class did this assignment last Thursday." She informed and Eric became confused as to why she would share that piece of information at least until she spoke again, this time her green eyes looking up from the sheet of homework and up at his own pair of green eyes, "If you want I can help you out."

"Really?" Eric asked, his voice suddenly going up in a high pitched voice, he cleared his throat and tired again, "Really?" It sounded the same, but he gave it another shot and cleared his throat once more, "Okay. I mean if you don't mind, you know…"

Donna smiled, "I don't mind."

Eric returned the grin and for several seconds the two stared at each other with smiles playing on their lips; then Donna realized they should get started on working on the homework assignment.

"Um… I need a pencil." She said and then turned to look for one.

"Oh yeah."

Almost right after Eric said those two words, a pencil was found by both Donna and Eric and simultaneously they reached over and grabbed the yellow writing device. Their hands touched for a few seconds, his over hers, before they both bashfully pulled away from the pencil looking equally embarrassed.

"Sorry." They seemed to mumble shyly at the same time, looking away from the other but never catching the sight of Hyde who rolled his eyes from the sidelines.

Also watching from the sidelines and at the same time working on the pancake batter was Kitty; however while Hyde had rolled his eyes at his friends Kitty smiled largely when she saw the scene that the two kids played out.

"Aren't they cute?" Kitty asked her husband, who she knew was standing beside her.

"Adorable." Red replied gruffly, not wanting to discuss what was going on with his son and the neighbor girl when there were more important matters to discuss, "Kitty, what are you doing?"

This time Kitty turned to face Red yet remained mixing the contents in the bowl, "Making breakfast."

"Why?"

"Red, I can't send these poor kids off to school without a good breakfast." She started to explain, "After all a good breakfast is the first part of a good day."

Closing his eyes—as if it would dim the pounding he was already feeling in his head—Red began to clarify his question, "No Kitty. I mean, why…Why are you adding more and more kids into the Vista Cruiser? We didn't get that car so I could live out some fantasy dream of being a school bus driver."

Kitty giggled a little, "Sure we did. You said so yourself."

"When?" Red was quick to ask a very deep scowl already indented on his forehead.

"When we were first looking into getting the car." His wife began to explain, her grin never budging an inch, "You pointed out that the Vista Cruiser was bigger than our old car and that meant we get fit more things when we traveled and up to seven or eight people in there."

Red stared back at Kitty now remembering that he had in fact said those words to her. Though he didn't tell her then or now that he'd only thrown in the number of people part to get her to agree on the car, he cared less about how many people could fit into the car…though his fishing gear was another story.

"Yeah, people Kitty. Not kids." He stated, his frown once again appearing on his face.

"Well kids are smaller than 'people.'" Kitty reminded, not looking at her husband and instead pouring the batter onto the pan in shapes of medium to large sized circles, "So that means you can fit twice as many kids than adults."

While Kitty released another laugh into the air Red groaned with annoyance, "Kitty…"

"I don't see what the big deal is anyway, Red." She continued to ramble, ignoring the groan of her name, "It's not like each of the kids are going to their own school. You'll be dropping them all of at the same place…"

This time it was Red's turn to interrupt and after a roll of his eyes that was just what he did.

"The big deal is, I have only thirty minutes to get to work." He stated before elaborating more of the details, "It'll take these kids ten minutes to finish the pancakes get their stuff and get into the car, then another ten minutes to get through the traffic of dumbasses and to the school. And even after I unload them all from the car it'll be another five minutes before I'm away from the damn school. That leaves me only five minutes to get to work…and that's not counting the time it'll take when one of these kids announces they have to use the bathroom right when we're getting ready to leave the house…"

"Ok, okay." Kitty said, doing her best not to laugh at her husband's words or angry expression, "I won't add anymore names to your bus roster."

The scowl remained in place, "What about the pancakes?"

"Red Forman, if you make me send these kids to school with empty stomachs, you'll be going to sleep with your own empty stomach tonight." She threatened while pointing her spatula in his direction.

Though he wasn't happy with the idea of Kitty carrying on with the pancake making, Red knew he wouldn't be at all happy with her not making dinner later on tonight and so he gave a grumbled, "Fine."

"Good." Kitty smiled and then looked over at the stovetop to flip over any pancakes that need to be flipped, "Besides the kids eating breakfast is better than having them just sitting there twiddling their thumbs while we wait for your missing passenger to make her way down her."

Puzzled by his wife's words Red turned to the kitchen table, wearing a small confused frown on his face until he figured out who the absent person was.

"Where is your daughter?"

Kitty shook her head at the way Red made Laurie _her_ daughter whenever she was doing anything that didn't make him happy,

"Our daughter is upstairs getting ready for school." She both corrected and explained.

Red's frown grew "Still?"

He had yet to see his daughter even once that morning. Apparently she'd gotten up early in the morning, so early that Kitty hadn't even made breakfast yet. No breakfast being made at the time didn't effect Laurie though and she'd quickly declined her mother's offer of pancakes and made herself a bowl of cereal. After finishing her cereal she went back upstairs to get dressed and do her hair, locking herself in the bathroom that she and her brother shared. She hadn't come out since.

Seeing Kitty give a mere nod, Red let out a audible sigh before walking over to the swinging door of the kitchen and pushing it ajar.

"Laurie!" he called just loud enough for her to hear him.

"Yes Daddy?" came Laurie's far off voice.

"Hurry up Kitten, we're running late."

"Okay Daddy I'm almost done." She replied, still never appearing, "I just need five more minutes."

Red sighed another frustrated sigh, this time not as loud, "You said that fifteen minutes ago."

"I know Daddy, but this time I really mean it." Laurie called back down in her most convincing tone of voice.

He decided to give the teenage girl the five minutes she claimed she only needed but after that he'd be calling up the stairs for her at exactly five minutes from now. Walking back into the kitchen as the door he'd been holding open seconds ago swung back and forth behind him, Red suddenly stopped in his tracks when he caught the sight of the kitchen table.

Two more seats were now filled, one of those seats being his own.

"How did you two get here?" he questioned angrily at the two new guests.

The young boy sitting in Red's chair scrunched his brows together in confusion, "Um…we were born." He replied as if it were obvious, adding in a slight shake of his head and scoff.

"Kitty…" Red groaned

"I know, I know I said no more bus riders." Kitty quickly agreed as she appeared at the table to put pancakes on each of the five children's plates, "But you try saying no to these cute little faces."

Not wasting a second Red turned to the young couple, "No." he looked back at his wife, "There how hard was that?"

"Red." She scolded lightly before reminding him once more, "Jackie and Michael are going to the same place, the other kids are already getting dropped off at. And I'm sure they won't be abit of trouble for you, right kids?"

Ten year old Jackie Burkhart, with her bright pink bow in her hair, nodded and smiled a bright smile first at Kitty and then at Red, "Right, Mrs. Forman. We won't be any trouble at all Mr. Forman."

Noticing that the young boy sitting next to her had yet to say anything and instead was lost in his small stack of chocolate chip pancakes, Jackie turned to her 'boyfriend' and frowned angrily, "Michael!" she scolded as she smacked him on the arm.

"Ow! God Jackie!" he exclaimed with a mouthful of pancake, "What was that for?"

Jackie didn't say a word but did give Kelso a warning glare before shifting her eyes up to Mrs. Forman, hoping he got the message. It was a long shot though, this was the same boy always lost at the game of Telephone.

By some miracle though this time Michael Kelso understood the message and smiled as he gave a quick nod before speaking.

"Yeah, sure what ever you say Mrs. Forman. Oh and Mr. Forman, quick question." He paused as if it would make the question more important than it was, "Where do you keep your water hose?"

"Kelso. Get out." Red replied in more than serious tone of voice.

"No, Mr. Forman." young Jackie protested and then wrapped her arms around Kelso, "You can't throw him out. I _love_ him."

"Yeah." Kelso agreed and with a smile he looked at Jackie before looking back at the adult, "I'm pretty good looking."

Red rolled his eyes at the scene. It was one he'd seen countless of times over the years with these two dumb kids. And even though Kitty too had been a witness to scenes similar to this one just as many times as Red had she still found them to just as cute as the first one.

"Oh isn't that just the sweetest?" Kitty gushed with a large grin on her lips.

"Yeah." Hyde grumbled as he watched the scene that irritated him more and more each time he saw it, "So sweet I think I'm getting a cavity."

Though she didn't say anything about Hyde's comment, Kitty did shake her head as she walked past him—but was probably only doing it to hide her own smile.

"And then you have to reduce it to the lowest possible outcome." Donna explained to Eric as they continued to work on the homework assignment, "So that would be one-fourth. See?"

"Yeah." Eric nodded with a smile; a smile that had been brought on by Donna and not any fraction.

Donna returned the smile, "Do you think you can do the next one?"

"Yeah." He agreed, still in a dreamy eyed daze.

"Do you wanna do the next one?"

"Yeah." Eric repeated but this time was able to pull himself out of the daze long enough to take the pencil from Donna's hand. His smile remained on his face the whole time, at least until he looked down at the notebook paper and saw what looked like Chinese writings to him, "Okay…what's the first step again?"

Donna gave a small laugh before reaching over for the pencil so she could show Eric the steps to solving the math problem once again. Not that she minded much though.

And while Donna went over the set of rules that had been explained in class days before, a few inches away from her Hyde was enjoying his fresh pancakes but was wishing he had some form of entertainment while he ate. All of a sudden his blue eyes fell upon the small yellow dish with the nearly new stick of butter resting on it and a mischievous smile soon appeared on his lips.

"Hey Kelso, man." He called out to his victim...eh friend, "I'll give you one dollar if you eat half that stick of butter."

"Eeewwww!" Jackie cried in disgust before Kelso could get in even one word, "Michael, don't do it. Butter is for poor, fat, and ugly people!"

Hyde held back the urge to roll his eyes at the whiny girl and just turned to look at Kelso, "So come on man, you in or out?"

"I don't know Hyde…" Kelso replied in a cautious tone as he eyes the stick of butter infront him, "Jackie could be right and I'm not poor or fat and definitely not ugly. And it's only one dollar…"

"Fine. Make it three quarters." Hyde said 'raising' his price.

A dopey grin swiftly made its way to Kelso's face, "Oh man you are so on!"

With that said Kelso reached over and snatched the stick of butter off the plate then brought it up to his open mouth; never paying any attention to Hyde's growing smirk or Jackie's look of repulsion.

"…then you reduce the fraction and you get…three-fifths?" Eric said in more of a questioning tone.

While his friends were busy either eating butter or watching the person eating the butter in disbelief, Eric and Donna continued to work on the math assignment. And during making of Hyde and Kelso's butter eating contract Donna had handed the pencil back to Eric and encouraged him to work on a question himself.

Donna grinned, "You got it."

"I got it." Eric repeated and as he looked at the paper he realized Donna was right, "I got it. Oh my God, Donna I got it!"

"Yeah." She nodded while laughing slightly at his enthusiasm.

Eric's excitement died down some but his smile remained in place as he turned to the redheaded girl again, "Thanks, Donna."

"Sure thing, Eric." She responded, blushing ever so lightly, "Um you know, since my class if a little farther ahead than yours, if you want I could help you out with your math homework again. If you want."

Blinking his eyes several times, as if he didn't believe what he was hearing, Eric eagerly nodded his head, "Yeah!" he said a little too enthusiastically, "I mean yeah, sure. You know if you want to."

Donna nodded, "I want to."

"I want you to…too." Eric replied with a smile which made Donna laugh some more.

Meanwhile farther away from the kitchen table and closer to the stove, Kitty was busy gathering the dirty dishes and placing them in the sink so she could get to them when everyone was gone, as Red looked down at his wristwatch once more. At the sight of the current time he marched his way over to the swinging door to call for his daughter again—despite the fact that she did still have a good minute and fifteen seconds left.

"Come on Laurie." He called from the open swinging door again but this time didn't wait for any sort of reply, "We need to get going _now_. Stop worrying about your hair and get down here! I'm sure it looks fine!"

The young girl's gasp could be heard all the way downstairs, "Daddy, I need more than 'fine!'"

Laurie's statement was then followed by a slamming of a door that Red could only assume was the one that belonged to the bathroom. The loud bang from the shutting of the door quickly set off a greater pounding feeling inside Red's head which caused him to shut his eyes yet again.

Red's eyes couldn't have been closed for more than two seconds when he felt a small tug on his right hand. He'd barley opened his eyes at all but somehow had managed to get a tiny glimpse of the person standing beside him, that tiny glimpse being of a big bright pink bow. Now more than ever Red did not want to open his eyes, but he knew he had to. Because he also knew that no one could ever ignore the Burkhart girl, you could try and try but eventually she would get you to acknowledge her.

"Mr. Forman." Jackie began to say as soon as she saw Red's eyes open and on her, "Steven is making Michael eat Ugly Poor People's food!"

Frowning at the small girl who was pointing her little finger in the direction of the two boys at the table, Red didn't know what to say and so he just turned to his wife.

"Kitty." He groaned, clearly get more and more aggravated.

As Jackie—having gotten abit frightened from the groan—walked away from the balding man and back to the kitchen table, Kitty made her way closer to her husband the second she heard her name.

"Okay, okay. It's alright Red." She assured and put a hand on his arm in attempt to calm him some, "Here…they're all just about done eating, why don't you get all the kids in the car…"

Red scowled down at his wife, "Me? Why me? You're the one who invite them all to a trip on the damn 'Forman School Bus.'"

"Alright fine." She agreed, trying not to smile to largely, "I'll get the kids into the car and you go talk to your hormonal teenage daughter."

The scowl on Red's face just about vanished just as Kitty's smile broke out into an even bigger one.

"You've got three minutes." Was all he said before Kitty giggled slightly and headed out of the kitchen.

As soon as Kitty was out of the room Red turned his attention over to the table of misfits; he put his frown back in place and took a few steps closer to where they were all seated.

"Alright, all of you get into the car." He firmly ordered, "Who ever isn't in the car in the next three minutes isn't going to school."

No one moved. They had all heard Red's threat but made no movement towards the door or towards any of the backpacks; they kept their focus on whatever they had been previously doing. It didn't take long for Red to realize that may not have been his most effective threat, however he soon thought of something that could easily have them doing what he wanted.

"And is spending the rest of the day here. With me."

As soon as the last two words were said it was if each of the five jumped out of their seats and began to gather up their things. It was a sight that made Red grin a satisfied grin.

Though Michael Kelso had reached down for his backpack and even brought it up to rest on his chair, he had yet to put it on and instead busied himself with trying to accomplish the challenge his friend had given him. Ignoring the disgusted squeal coming from his 'girlfriend,' Kelso brought the stick of butter up to his mouth once again and took the last bite that would allow him to complete the challenge. He slowly chewed the substance for several second before at last slamming the stick of butter back onto the small plate.

"Ha ha! I did it!" he exclaimed happily, both arms up in the air, "I ate half a stick of butter! What do you say to that Hyde?"

"That was pretty impressive, Kelso." Hyde replied in a clearly fake impressed tone—clear to anyone who wasn't Kelso, that is. "So impressive that instead of giving you three quarters I'm gonna give you four nickels."

A smile sprang on Kelso's lips, "Awesome!"

With a smirk on his own lips Hyde nodded and then reached into his pocket for the coins. He then dropped the change into his friend's greasy, buttery, waiting hands and Kelso eagerly took them. However a couple of seconds past and the young boy looked up from the money in his hands with a small indented frown on his forehead.

"Wait a minute…" he said in a cautious tone, "Are you sure you don't want the fourth nickel back?"

Hyde held back a laugh, he didn't know why he'd actually thought Kelso had caught on seconds ago, "Nah, man. You earned it. Go buy your girlfriend something girly and shinny."

"Oh my God, Steven! That is a great idea!" Jackie squealed in delight not seeing that her 'boyfriend's' smile never appeared, "Michael, we should make a list of all the things you could buy me with all the money you have now."

Kelso's smile was still no where in sight as he looked back and forth from his palm full of change to his rambling girlfriend—and never listening to a word she said. It was a sight that made Hyde's smirk grow just a smidge with amusement.

"I feel like we're getting a lot more homework this year." Donna shared with Eric as they both started to put their backpacks on.

"Yeah, me too." Eric agreed with a nod, "Especially in math too. It's like sometimes I wanna say 'Hey Math, I'm not a doctor, go solve your own problems!'"

The joke probably sounded corny to anyone else who had heard it, even after he'd said it Eric realized it did sound abit corny but then something happened. Donna laughed. And the sound of her laughter quickly made Eric grin.

"Ugh. Don't tell me you're driving the Twerp-mobile." A new voice said as they entered the room.

Red turned around to see his annoyed looking daughter, "Afraid so, Kitten. Blame your mother."

Laurie gave a slight scoff, she already knew it was her mother who'd been responsible for adding the 'Super-Freaks.' It was bad enough she had to get out of the same car as her brother, now she had to deal with his dumb friends too. She had explained to some of her classmates that Eric was some kid they saw walking to school one day and felt bad for and that was why he was in her car…how would she explain these four other losers?

"You're hair looks nice." Red said to his daughter, knowing that it was the reason she was in the bathroom for so long and hoping to get a smile out of Laurie. Ever since her birthday three months ago seeing a smile on Laurie's face was a rare thing—mostly because she was never home or locked up in her room.

However instead of getting the bright and happy smile he expected, Laurie gave her father a wide eyed and almost hurt expression. The look only confused Red.

"He means beautiful, sweetie." Kitty said suddenly swooping out of no where and placing her hands on her daughter shoulders while looking at Red, "Didn't you, Red?"

"Right. Right. Beautiful. Your hair looks beautiful, sweetheart." He said, figuring it was probably for the best to just play along.

It was then that the beaming smile of Laurie's finally appeared, "Thanks Daddy!"

Red returned the smile but the minute Laurie's head was turned he looked at Kitty with an expression that asked 'What was that about?' Kitty only waved her hand and shook her head, silent for 'You don't want to know.'

Turning away from her husband, Kitty looked over at the children and smiled.

"Alright, everyone line up for their goodbye kisses!" she announced happily and mere seconds past before each of the six children were lined up infront of where she stood, next to the bar orange stools.

Kelso was the first in line and grinned another one of his large dopey grins while looking up at Kitty, "Mrs. Forman, good choice on the butter." He said making a thumbs up sign, "It was creamy, just a little salty, and not too buttery."

"Well…thank you Michael." Kitty said not knowing what else to say before she bent down and placed a quick kiss on the boy's head, "Be good."

After receiving his kiss Kelso's grin grew and he ran his way to the parked Vista Cruiser and the person who was behind Kelso seconds before stepped closer to Kitty.

"Thank you for breakfast Mrs. Forman. It was really good. Can you tell Cook the recipe so he can make it for me at our house?" Jackie asked innocently and with a smile that usually helped her get her way.

Kitty smiled, "Oh well I'm afraid that's a family recipe Jackie, but I'll tell you what. You are more than welcome to come over here anytime you want some chocolate chip pancakes, okay?"

"Okay." The small girl agreed.

"Good." Kitty replied and then placed a small kiss on the brunettes' head, "Have a good day."

As soon as Jackie had run off to join Kelso outside Donna walked closer to Kitty and decided to right away ask her something that had been on her mind.

"Mrs. Forman," she began, "do you think you could go check on my mom in a little while? I don't want her to tear the house apart."

Letting out a small giggle Kitty nodded, "Of course, honey. Have fun." She said before quickly kissing Donna's head.

"Here you are, sweetie." Kitty said as she handed her daughter a brown paper lunch bag, once Donna had joined the other two and Laurie stepped forward, "Have a good day at school, you and that gorgeous hair of yours." She said with a small laugh.

Laurie's eye slit up at the compliment and she smiled even brighter before, even leaning in to return the kiss her mother put on her cheek before leaving out the sliding door.

When Eric stepped into his sister's place Kitty continued to smile and gave him a lunch bag similar to Laurie's.

"And here's your lunch honey." She told him, "You have fun at school and I added in an extra SnackPack just for you my little Snicklefritz."

Kitty then leaned over and kissed her son's cheek despite the way he scrunched up his face and seemed to have stiffened his body.

"Thanks Mom." Eric replied, both sounding and looking quite embarrassed as he exited the kitchen.

"Thanks again for breakfast, Mrs. Forman." Hyde sincerely said the motherly figure.

"You are very welcome, Steven." She said releasing a light giggle before turning to the counter where she'd had her children's bags of lunches resting and was 'shocked' when she saw the extra lunch sack. "Oh would you look at that? I guess with everything going on this morning I didn't realize I had made an extra lunch." She shared and this time let out a louder laugh, "You know Steven, I really hate to waste food…do you think it would be okay if you took this lunch for you?"

Normally Hyde would have declined the offer but just the thought of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that could possibly be in the sack made Hyde's mouth water. Hyde wasn't exactly sure how she did it but Mrs. Forman always made simple things like sandwiches taste as delicious as a thanksgiving meal.

"Sure. Cool. Thanks Mrs. Forman."

Kitty smiled in return before bending down to kiss the young boy's cheek; Hyde did the same as Eric at first—scrunching his face up slightly—but when he remembered the lunch bag he now held in his hand he unscrunched up his face and gave Kitty the tiniest of kisses on her cheek. Soon after that he dashed out to the driveway and into the car with his friends.

"Alright Kitty, I'll see you later." Red said grabbing his suit jacket and already heading for the room's exit.

"But Red, I didn't give all my goodbye kisses."

Red stopped in his tracks and groaned, "Damn it, Kitty. I'm not getting one of those kids out of the car just so you can…"

Before he could get in another word Kitty had stepped closer towards him and covered his lips with hers in a gentle, loving kiss; a kiss that the couple may have gotten too into as it had lasted more than just a few quick seconds.

"Oh." came Red's reply in an intrigued tone.

Giggling Kitty nodded, "Oops. I think that may have put you a minute or two off schedule." She said teasingly.

"I guess I could be late a minute or two." He said with a shrug before starting lean into his wife for another kiss.

"No, no." Kitty said stopping him by putting a forceful than don his chest, "You've got a 'bus' full of kids that need to get to school on time."

Looking over his shoulder at the overfilled vehicle parked in his driveway made Red give out another annoyed groan, "I'm gonna need more than a minute or two to get me through that."

"Yes you will." Kitty agreed as she nodded her head.

At first Red was abit surprised that his wife had agreed with him so quickly but when he realized she might be setting things up for another 'goodbye kiss' a smirk swiftly appeared on his face. In the end, he was half right. Kitty did lean in for a kiss but it was nothing like the one before and was instead quick and on the cheek, but still filled with love.

"Good luck." She said with a smile and started to move out of the embrace.

Red's smirk was now gone and his usual frown was back, "That's it?"

"Well you know the old saying," Kitty started to explain, "Leave them wanting more."

The words had the smirk on Red's face reappear as he slightly shook his head while staring back at his wife.

"You always do, sweetheart." He said before turning around leaving the room as one of his favorite sounds filled his ears. Kitty's giggle.

As soon as Red opened the driver's door of the car he could hear the racquet coming from inside—heck he'd heard it a foot away from the car—the opening of the door had just made the noise louder and abit clearer. From what he could get, the few seconds he'd been in the car for, the group had split off in twos and each pair was arguing over some dumb and most probably pointless thing.

"Stop kicking my seat!" Laurie exclaimed turning to the back seat and glaring at her younger brother.

"I didn't kick your seat." Eric protested.

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Right there!" Laurie shouted sitting up and pointing her finger at him, it almost looked like she was going to jump back there, "You just kicked it!"

Eric tried not to look to frightened, "It was an accident." He said honestly.

"Yeah, sure. 'Accident.'" She repeated with a roll of her eyes.

"It was!"

Sitting beside Eric was Donna and next to her was Jackie, the two girls busy with their own argument. However unlike the Forman children the fight between the two of them hadn't started off as a right away argument.

"Donna." Jackie began, looking at the redhead, "What are you wearing?"

Donna furrowed her brow lightly, "Um clothes…"

"But it's Monday, Donna. Monday." The younger girl said in a tone that obviously meant that Donna should know what she was talking about without actually talking about it.

But she didn't.

"Yeah so?" she asked instead.

"Monday is Pink Day, remember?" Jackie asked, "How could you forget?"

Donna still didn't know what the girl was talking about—she didn't even remember Jackie ever mentioning anything like this to her before. Though she did tend to tune her in and out every now and then.

"Why is Monday, 'Pink Day' Jackie?" Donna questioned, "It doesn't even rhyme."

"Not everything has to rhyme, Donna." Jackie argued, "Monday is Pink Day because pink is the best color and Monday is the first day of the week."

None of what Jackie said made any sense to Donna; especially the part about Monday being the first day of the week.

"Jackie, Monday isn't the first day of the week…" she started to correct.

"Fine, fine. First day of the school week. Happy Miss. Calendar?" Jackie said sarcastically but didn't wait for any response, "Besides that's not the point. The point is we both agreed we'd wear pink on Monday. Blue on Tuesday. Red on Wednesday. Purple on Thursday. And light blue on Friday. Why aren't you wearing pink _today_?"

Frowning again Donna replied, "Because I don't have anything pink."

Jackie gasped loudly and her eyes widened with shock—she reacted as if Donna had said she didn't own anything expect for the clothes she wore now.

"Oh you poor thing." Jackie said her voice full with pity as she put a hand on her friend's arm, "Don't worry we can go shopping after school."

"What?" Donna exclaimed, "No, I don't wanna go shopping. Especially for anything that's pink…"

As the argument between the two girls continued next to them sat Kelso and then Hyde over at the window seat.

"Hyde, I wanted to sit by the window." Kelso stated.

Hyde shrugged, "Too bad, man."

"But I called it!" the other boy whined.

"No you didn't." Hyde said with a scowl.

"Yeah I did!" Kelso argued with a smile, then moved his index finger to the side of his head, "I called it in my head."

Smacking Kelso's arm in order to get his hand away from his head, Hyde continued to frown, "That doesn't count."

"Uh-hu! Saturday you called the last cookie in your head and you got it have it!" Kelso reminded.

"Yeah, but calling it in your mind doesn't count if you don't have a mind."

Kelso's mouth dropped open, "Ah!"

The next thing they knew both boys were busy wrestling each other in the little space they had in the filled backseat of the Vista Cruiser, while declaring that they each wanted to sit by the window.

It was needless to say that the car was filled with noise, lots of noise. The three different fights going on meant six different voice talking, and occasionally screaming, over the other. The noise was getting so loud when Red turned the key in the ignition the sound of the car turning on couldn't even be heard. It wasn't long before Red had the last straw and he turned himself around to look at quarrelling six.

"Shut it! All of you!" Red declared in a firm and much raised voice.

Instantly everyone froze with fear.

"You two." He said pointing at his children, "Another word and you're both grounded."

Both Laurie and Eric nodded and gave a quiet, "Yes, sir."

Red turned his gaze to the next pair, "Donna, Jackie. You're going to school wearing what your wearing whether it's pink or not."

Donna smiled happily just as a disappointed look showed on Jackie's face but still she made no argument.

"And Archie, Jughead." He said looking over at Hyde and Kelso, "The next one of you to say the word 'window' is getting thrown out of that window."

After untangling themselves from the wrestling position they'd been frozen in, both young boys nodded nervously.

"Good." Red said with a nod before turning himself back around to face the wheel.

He waited a few more seconds to make sure no one started up another argument or any of the others from before, but after only hearing silence during the time Red gave a satisfied smirk and put the car into drive. The car was completely quiet as Red pulled started to pull out of the drive way and the two front tires were about to roll of the driveway's pavement and onto the street when…

"Mr. Forman." said in a timid voice, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Without a word Red put the vehicle back into park and placed his head on top of the steering wheel as Kelso threw open the back door and darted out of the car and back into the house.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>__ So? What did you think of the flashback? Good? Bad? So,so? Lemme know what you think, I'd love to hear from you!_

_I really enjoyed writing this part of the story but I did miss Fez. Sorry if there are any mistakes like the kids all going to the same school despite their age differences (Laurie and Jackie) but this was the '70s and things were different right? And maybe if you picture them in different schools then we could even say the schools were close by to each other._

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, see you next time, take care, and have a nice day!_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note: **Hello all! At last I bring to you part three, the last part of 'Then they Do' So sorry it took me awhile to post it. Got busy with school and midterms. Good news is that it's done and I get a minivacation these next few days. :D Anywoo back to the fi I just want to say thank you so so so much for all of the very awesome reviews. They mean so much to me and I am so glad that you enjoyed the second chapter, like I said it was fun to write so I'm glad you all liked reading it. Who knows maybe I'll be doing some more flashback scenes with the gang. Don't know. What I do know is that you all are all so wonderful and generous and I thank you once again for all of your kind words. Brownies for all of you! *made with of course lots of love!* Special thanks once again to Marla's Lost for all of her help and for pushing me to post the story. Okay I'm done rambling…for now. Enjoy!_

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><p><em>Present Day<em>

It was days like those that Red couldn't wait until they all grew up.

And then they did.

Though of course not all days ran that way, though in the end they each had Red wishing for the days of the future. Some days were much more hectic and so crazy breakfast was eaten on the go—no matter how late they were running Kitty never let anyone out of their house with out making sure they had eaten or had something to eat. Other days, rarer days, there weren't so many kids waiting to load the Forman School Bus and things went abit smoother and calmer with only his biological children and at least one other kid to send off to school.

But never before had there been a day when the kitchen had been this quiet.

Red had been waiting years and years and years for these types of days to come. However, now that they were actually here they had Red thinking that maybe his wife had been right, maybe the house wasn't as peaceful as it was empty.

"What're you think about?"

The question quickly brought Red out of a daze he hadn't even noticed he'd fallen into; he turned slightly and saw his wife standing in the middle of the kitchen wearing a curious frown on her face.

"Nothing, nothing." He muttered in response as he shook his head and hoped to have dismissed the topic completely, he even attempted to change the subject by stabbing his eggs with his fork and bring it up to his mouth, "Good eggs, sweetheart."

Kitty gave a tight smile and nodded but wasn't at all convinced. She knew that had been her husband's first bite of the entire breakfast. After all, Kitty had been standing in the kitchen for the past two or three minutes watching as Red just sat there silently, lost in his own thoughts. And Kitty had a pretty good feeling about what those thoughts were of.

With her small smile still in place, Kitty stepped closer to the round table and slipped into the seat next to her husband. "It's so quiet without the kids here."

"Yeah." Red agreed, his gaze down on his breakfast.

Hearing her husband quickly agree to what she said made Kitty's grin grow. Not only had she been right, but Red was actually admitting to missing the kids.

Just as Kitty started to get excited and was about to call up all of the kids and tell them each about had just been said, Red looked up from his plate with a smirk that told Kitty his answer wasn't finished.

"Isn't it great?" he added happily.

Immediately Kitty's smile dropped and she looked back at him with a very unamused expression. She knew that Red missed all of the kids but honestly, getting him to confess it was like pulling teeth. And it wasn't as though she was asking him to say it to each and every one of them, she just wanted him to admit it to her. She was going to get him to admit it to her…and then she would pass on the message to the kids.

"You know, it's okay to admit that you miss them."

"I don't miss them, Kitty." Red replied in a quick and gruff manner.

Kitty held back a larger grin, "I think you do."

"No I don't." Red argued, "Why would I miss them? They're a bunch of locusts that come in here looking for free food and end up taking over the place."

"Because they're _our_ locusts." Kitty pointed out sounding and appearing to be close to tears, "And I miss them."

When he heard the tone in wife's voice and saw the matching look Red softened his own expression and tired to do the same with his voice, "Of course you miss them, Kitty. You're their mother."

Red's words tugged at Kitty's heart and she smiled as she looked up at him through her misting eyes, knowing that by 'their' he was referring to all of the kids and not just their biological ones.

"Sometimes I feel like they're all just playing house and pretending to be married and have jobs and families and their own lives." Kitty shared out loud, "And even when I see a picture like that one over there…they're all dressed up and grown up and I still see them as my little babies covered in dirt and sweat from running around outside."

Turning towards the shelf behind him where the photo Kitty was talking about, Red understood exactly what his wife was talking about. The picture was of the 'locusts' smiling for the camera, dressed in the formal attire that was expected to be worn at a wedding—which was where the picture had been taken. Slowly that image in the photo was dissolved and each adult captured in the photo seemed to have been replaced with the image of their younger selves.

And even if Kitty had kept her last words to herself, Red knew turning to that photo would have him seeing the same thing.

Letting out a barely audible sigh, Red looked away from the framed picture and over at his wife. When he saw the tears still shinning in her blue eyes he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. Though she wasn't smiling just yet Kitty did lean into the embrace, resting her head on Red's shoulder.

"And knowing you, I'm sure that'll never change." Red said and Kitty let out a feeble laugh as he continued, sharing with his wife the words that he reminded himself from time to time, "But they did grow up. All kids do…no matter how much their parents don't want them to. And there's nothing we can do about it except hope and pray that we didn't raise complete dumbasses and that they're able to find their happiness and have their dreams come true."

Kitty nodded against him, "I know. But it's still hard to believe there's no more waking up early on Christmas mornings, no helping with school projects, no more baseball games or ballet recitals, no more parent-teacher meeting, no more carpools."

As Red listened to his wife go on and on about the things she was missing he realize he didn't miss any of that stuff and was back to seeing his 'empty' house as the peaceful place he'd waited decades to enjoy.

"Yeah." He agreed with a smile that had Kitty sending him a glare that did not go unnoticed, "I'm agreeing with you."

Swiftly Kitty pulled away and out of the embrace, "Red Forman, you and I both know that you miss those kids just as much as I do. Whether you like it or not. And you are going to admit it one way or another."

Red closed his eyes for a few seconds before speaking, "Look Kitty, I'll admit this. Without all of them here things have been pretty dull."

"Dull?" Kitty repeated in an anything but happy tone of voice.

Realizing that perhaps the word dull was not the best word to describe the days that had mostly been spent with just him and Kitty, Red tried his best to correct himself, "No not dull. I mean…"

"Boring?" Kitty suggested.

"Right." Red agreed but a second later shook his head and tired to recover from falling into that trap, "No, no not boring. Things have just been…less crazy."

"Oh." Kitty simply said and then found herself grinning faintly, "Well, I suppose that is true. The first aid kit hasn't been touched in two weeks."

Red gave a light chuckle at the mere thoughts of the different antics the group of misfits had done over the years that had Kitty restocking the kit with new supplies every other week.

"And I guess," he went on deciding to go ahead and get out in the open, it was after all just Kitty (and he hadn't seen her with any type of recording device lately), "As much as I hate to admit it…I guess I do miss the locusts."

Kitty's smile grew a few more inches and Red couldn't help but respond with his own smirk.

Then suddenly the kitchen's glass door slid open with a loud swooshing sound which was then followed by the singing/humming of the graduation march. The married couple looked behind them, frowns on their foreheads—one confused, one angry—and caught the sight of a skinny young man proudly marching his way into the room. Right away Kitty's face lit up while Red turned away from the scene, hoping his eyes and mind were playing a trick on him.

"I take it back." He grumbled to his wife who paid not a bit of attention to him.

Stepping farther into the kitchen Eric stopped his 'singing' and straightened himself out while puffing out his chest somewhat as he turned to his parents with a grin.

"Yes it is I, your college graduate son…scratch that… your only college graduate child." He announced in a triumph filled tone, then turning to the sliding door, "And his fellow graduate, Mrs. Donna Pinciotti-Forman!"

Donna held back a laugh as she walked into the kitchen, "Eric, we graduated from college a year ago."

"I know." He agreed with a nod, keeping his smile still in place, "And I'm still their _only_ college _graduate_ child."

Donna gave a quick roll of her eyes at her husband's smug smile but before she could say more her mother-in-law had jumped up from her seat and was greeting the two with a great big Kitty Forman hug.

"Oh Eric, my baby boy." She gushed as she held her son in her arms in a tight embrace, "Oh I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Mom." Eric said as returned the hug; even though he had come over to her less than a week ago. But he knew it was easier than pointing out that he had been here a few days ago…plus there was a part of him that truly had him missing his mother in the days he hadn't seen or talked to her.

As soon as Kitty let go of Eric she turned to the tall redhead and pulled her into a welcoming home, "And Donna, it is so good to see you, honey. How are you?"

"I'm good, Kitty." Donna answered with a grin as their hug was brought to an end.

"Good." Kitty said with a smile before grabbing Eric's left hand and Donna's right and then dragging them over to the round table, "Sit down, sit down." She instructed then just about pushed them into two of the empty seats before taking a seat herself. Her smile grew as she looked happily at the couple, "Okay, now tell me what's new. I want an update on everything….How's work?"

The redhead slightly moved her head up and down as she decided to speak first. "It's going great. There's a chance that my story on the reopening of the library could be on the first page of the paper."

"That's wonderful, Donna. Eric, honey what about you?"

"Well it only took about twenty five years but I finally am excited to go to school every morning." Eric shared with his family before going on into detail, "I mean my class…I know they're my first class but they're already my best class. They're so full of questions and hang on to just about everything I say…it's like kids today actually want to learn!"

Eric's words earned him laughs from his wife and mother but his father seemed to have tuned out of the conversation as he had unfolded his paper and begun reading it again. Though little did Eric know, Red was using the paper as a cover and was actually listening in on the chat and was quite happy with what he was hearing.

"I am a bit worried about this coming week though."

Kitty knitted her brows together, "Why sweetie?"

"Well the next chapter we're supposed to go over is a chapter on multiplying fractions." he informed, "And you know how kids can have a hard time with fractions. I'm hoping this song that Donna and I came up with will help them out a little. It's to the tune of _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_. It goes…"

Not in the mood for any type of singing, Red crumbled his paper downwards and stared at song, "What are you doing here?"

Closing his mouth that he'd open but never managed to get a word out, Eric looked down at his watch and then back up again—a slightly shocked expression written on his face.

"Wow. Two minutes and twenty three seconds." He said, confusing both his mother and father, "That's gotta be the longest it's taken you to ask us that."

Donna nodded, "Could be a new record."

"Yeah." Eric agreed and then saw his father roll his eyes as his mother's giggle filled his ears.

"We were going to have breakfast at that diner by the mall but they're doing some renovating or something so now it's closed for today and the rest of the week." Donna began to explain to her in-laws, "We were hungry and thought we'd come over here for breakfast. I hope it's not a problem though."

"Oh no." the elder married couple said simultaneously but in very opposite tones.

Standing up from her chair, Kitty's enthusiastic tone continued as she went on, "It's no problem at all. You two are always welcomed here at any time or…"

"Hold on a minute, Kitty." Red interrupted his wife as he raised his palm in the air, before deepening his scowl and turning to Eric and Donna, "When you said 'we' you meant…"

"Me and Donna." Eric replied and just as Red's frown began to diminish he continued his answer, "And everyone else too."

Red grimaced and let out another audible groan but seemed to go completely unnoticed as the younger couple kept their eyes on a practically beaming Kitty.

"Oh, oh this is just so wonderful." She said as she clapped her hands happily, "That means I have to make more pancakes." She went on her tone only become more and more chipper while she just about skipped her way to the stove, "You know your father and I were just talking about how much we missed having all of you kids here."

Grins sprang to both Donna and Eric's lips as they instantly turned from Kitty to Red; Eric's of course being the larger of the two.

"Kitty…" Red groaned with annoyance.

"Really?" Donna asked in disbelief.

"Aw, Daddy." Eric said in a small voice as he touched his heart, "I missed you too."

Eric then stood up from his seat and opened his arms, stepping closer to his father and then leaning down for a hug. Not more than two seconds could have passed before Red shoved his son's arms off and away from him.

"Stop being weird and get off of me." He growled.

With a grin still on his face instead of any type of hurt expression Eric flopped back into his chair next to his smiling wife.

"Knock, knock." A new voice was heard saying, "Good morning everyone!"

The family members in the kitchen turned toward the sliding door and saw a petite brunette making her way into the room with a large smile on her face. The second she saw another one of her babies enter her kitchen, Kitty pushed aside the pancake making and rushed over to pull the young woman into a hug. And as the two women hugged a tall figure followed Jackie's footsteps into the house.

"Jackie, normal people actually knock instead of just saying it and then they wait for the door to be answered."

Jackie swung around to face the figure, "But Steven, that's _normal_ people. I'm Jackie Hyde, I'm not normal."

"Nice to hear you finally admit it." Eric said, not being able resist the easy set up.

While Jackie smacked the side of Eric's head, Hyde took a minute to greet his surrogate parents.

"Hey, Red. Hey Mom." He said and the next thing he knew he was enveloped in his own Kitty Forman hug.

"Oh Steven, I'm so glad that you all are here." Kitty stared to say when she began to slightly pull away, a smile on her face until she noticed something was missing…well some things "Where're Carly and Gracie?" she asked curiously while looking behind her adopted son's back in hopes of finding her twin granddaughters.

Jackie turned away from Donna and over to Kitty, "They're outside playing with Betsy."

"You left your kids outside _alone_?" Donna questioned; even though the neighborhood was as safe as it was when they were growing up Jackie was very, very protective of her children.

"No." the brunette shook her head back and forth, "Michael's out there with them."

Eric nodded, "So like Donna said, you left your kids outside alone?"

"Brooke's out there watching Kelso." Hyde added for his wife and just about everyone's heads began to nod understandingly.

Once all that had been cleared up Jackie turned to Kitty, "Do you need any help?"

"Oh sure, Jackie." Kitty replied with a smile, "Here why don't you keep an eye on these pancakes here and I'll get started on the batter for the next batch."

The sight of his wife and his adoptive mother working on breakfast together made the corners of Hyde's mouth raise a centimeter or two. There were many things that made him thankful for having Kitty in his life and one of those was the fact that she had taught Jackie how to cook. Well cook anything that didn't involve eggs at least.

With his tiny smile remaining in place Hyde looked over at Red and saw that the elder man had his eyes closed—something he usually did when he was annoyed or had a headache or more usually both.

"Hey Red, what's with you?" Hyde asked casually, "Forman sing you his Twinkle Twinkle Little Fraction song?"

"No." Eric answered for their father, "I didn't even get a word in."

Hyde nodded and clasped his hand on Red's shoulder, "Consider yourself lucky."

"Hey!" Eric shouted with surprise.

Red soon opened his eyes again just in time to see Hyde walk away from the table and take a seat on one of the orange bar stools. The kitchen table did still have three empty seats but just like Red, Hyde knew those seats wouldn't be empty for long. In fact there wouldn't be an empty seat in the room once everyone was inside and chairs from either the dinning room or basement would have to be brought in.

"So Jackie, how are the girls doing?" asked Kitty.

"They're doing okay." Jackie replied with a smile as she flipped over a pancake, "I just wish this terrible two's stage would go by quicker. We have twins so that's two terrible twos…it's like terrible fours!" she shared and Kitty gave a small laugh, "Carly's starting to throw crying tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants and Gracie, well she hasn't thrown too many tantrums but she kicks really hard."

Hyde smirked as he over heard the conversation and decided to add his two cents, "Yeah, I wonder where she got that from."

As Jackie sent a warning glare to her husband Kitty let out another on of her laughs.

"Oh honey, I'm sure it'll all pass soon enough." She tried to assure the young mother, "Eric grew out of the terrible two stage almost the same day that he turned three. And Laurie…"

"We're still waiting for her to grow out of it." Eric finished for his mother not noticing the new visitor enter the kitchen until he felt a smack on the side of his head.

"Watch it, twerp" Laurie with a snarl as she dropped into the empty seat between her father and brother, "Or you'll be next at the top of my list."

"Ow!" Eric exclaimed rubbing his injury, "What is this Hit Eric Day, today?"

Ignoring her husband Donna looked at her sister-in-law, "Who's at the top now?"

Before Laurie could even open her mouth to reply there was a loud bang heard that was then followed by a long 'Aaayyyeeee!' and at that second the answer to Donna's question was revealed.

Everyone—but Laurie, who ignored the noise and just sat fuming with her arms crossed over her chest—turned to the noise and saw their foreign friend, Fez, standing on the other side of the closed side door, his hand gripping nose in pain. It was a sight that had most of the people in the room chuckling except for Kitty who looked more concerned about the young man and Laurie who continued to ignore the whole thing.

"Good one, Kitten." Red praised with an amused grin on his face—his morning was starting to get slightly better, "Glad to see you starting to open your eyes about being married to Ricky Ricardo."

"He deserved it, Daddy."

"What did he do this time?" Jackie asked holding back a giggle.

With an annoyed look plastered on her face Laurie started to explain, "It's not what he did, it's what he didn't do. He still hasn't bought me an engagement ring!"

A small frown appeared on Eric's face as he turned to his sister, "So then you mean 'it's what he _hasn't done'_ not 'it's what he _didn't do_.' Because you…"

"I thought you were a Nerd Teacher." Laurie said looking like she was ready to give her brother another smack on the head.

Eric was confused, "I'm a math teacher."

"Same thing." Laurie threw at him and then averted her eyes away from Eric and to the rest of the family, "Anyways. It's not fair. I mean both of you have engagement rings…and Fez and I have been married the longest. Seven years. He's lucky I let it go for this long."

Kitty looked away from her injured son-in-law—who was still out on the porch—and over to her daughter, "Well honey to be fair, it was only during the past three years that the two of you were living in the same area code."

"I know that, Mother." The young blonde replied, "And during those years that I wasn't here that meant Fez could do and date whatever and whoever he wanted, which makes me one of the greatest wives ever, _which means_ I should get a _huge_ diamond ring."

"That's true." Jackie agreed with a nod that earned her very confused looks from the rest of the family; when she saw the looks she just shrugged her shoulder, "What? Anything that leads up getting anything diamond I'm gonna agree too. But Laurie, your ring better not be bigger than mine."

As Laurie gave a roll of her eyes in response the glass door slid open and the wounded Fez cautiously dragged himself into the kitchen.

"Fez, sweetie, are you okay?"

"Yes. Thank you, Miss. Kitty. Your door is very clean." He said in a small voice and turned to where his wife was proceeding to kneel down beside her seat, "Sugar pie, I know you want an engagement ring…"

"A _big_ engagement ring." Laurie reminded, still sounding upset.

"Yes, yes." Fez nodded in a timid like voice, "And I will get you an engagement ring soon. But you see honeybunch, I can't just buy you any engagement ring…"

Laurie quickly interrupted, with an excited smile now on her face, "Sure you can. As long as it's _big_. Bigger than Jackie's."

That last part frightened Fez some as he knew how big Jackie's ring was, but still he nodded and carried on with what he was saying ignoring Jackie's outburst of 'Hey!' in the background.

"Yes…Yes, it will be big. But I do not just want to give you a big diamond ring." Laurie was about to protest however Fez spoke before she did, "I want it to be a ring that is like you. It must be sparkly, sexy, mystifying. It must be as beautiful as you. And that has been my greatest challenge."

"Aww Fezzie." Laurie gushed with a large, in love smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck; then suddenly the grin disappeared and her face because serious once again, "I want that that ring by Christmas."

Not wanting to go back into the dog house, Fez nodded his head eagerly which made Laurie's smile reappear before she threw herself on to him in a tight hug. Carefully Fez wrapped his arms around his wife, looking over at his father-in-law as he did so.

"Yes, you will have your ring by _Christmas_." He said stilling holding Laurie in their embrace as he sent an over exaggerated wink at Red.

Red only rolled his eyes.

The truth was Laurie had been as she claimed 'hinting' for an engagement ring for the past two months. After the first dozen or so 'hints' Fez began looking for a ring but as he told Laurie he did not want just a ring he wanted the ring for her. It was just last week that he finally found it. And after purchasing the ring Fez had stopped by the Forman house to talk to Red, explaining to him that when he gave Laurie the ring he wanted to also give her a real proposal and so was asking for her hand in marriage properly.

Though Red was not a fan of having his daughter married to a foreigner, he could see that Alibaba did love his daughter and for some reason she loved him; He made and wanted to continue to make her happy. So with those things in mind and after reminding Fez that he could kill a man in his sleep, Red gave him his blessing.

Fez had a whole evening planned for the proposal but for now he was enjoying the makeup make-out session that he and Laurie had become lost in. Somehow he had managed to sit himself in the kitchen chair that Laurie had been occupying, with Laurie now in his lap while never breaking their kiss. The on lookers weren't onlookers for long and soon turned their attention else where when the lip lock began.

However seconds into the couple's lip lock sounds of moaning could be heard from the two and almost immediately the two Forman men who were sitting at each side of the frenching duo stood up from their chairs. Eric quickly scampered over to the chair at Donna's left—happy that it was the seat farthest away from Fez and Laurie. And after Red stood up from his seat he walked over to the area between the table and the counter, ready to throw everyone of the dumbasses out of his house when suddenly the slide door was pushed open once more.

"Hi Mr. Forman, hi Mrs. Forman." A tall brunette greeted as she stuck her head into the room.

Kitty smiled at the new guest, "Hello Brooke, dear. Why don't you come inside?"

"I will in a few minutes Mrs. Forman. I just came to see if I could get some help from Jackie or Hyde. Gracie took Carly's Barbie doll and Carly threw herself on to the floor crying and kicking, then she accidentally kicked Gracie so now Gracie is crying too." Brooke began to explain, "Betsy's trying to get them to start playing again but it's not really helping. I'd try to handle it myself but…I can't find Michael."

Knowing it was important to located Michael—who knew what he was up to—Jackie nodded her head, "Sure we'll be right there. Go look for Michael."

Not having to be told twice, Brooke nodded and left the kitchen but not closing the door behind her, to look for her husband deciding first to check the roof.

"Steven, go handle the girls." Jackie ordered as soon as Brooke was gone.

Hyde frowned, "No way, Jackie. I was the one who handled them at the store when they wanted those six Barbie's."

"Yeah, and as I remember they ended up coming home with eight." Jackie pointed out, "And I was the one who handled them when we went out for ice cream and Gracie said Carly was copying her because they both had chocolate ice cream. It's _your _turn."

Letting out a heavy sigh Hyde pushed himself out of his seat and headed for the exit.

"Man, I can't wait 'till they grow up." He mumbled as he walked pasted where Red was standing.

Red heard Hyde's words and was about to tell him _'Get ready for a lot of those moments'_ when he took a look around the kitchen seeing all of the kids…his kids now all grown up. Jackie helping Kitty with breakfast, Eric and Donna talking about their jobs, Laurie and the foreigner…actually he didn't look and didn't want to look in their direction at the moment, and Steven going to take care of his own children. A proud smirk crawled on to his lips as he decided to change his words.

"And then they do." He told his adopted son as he put a hand on his shoulder.

It was at that same time though that Michael Kelso walked through the open side door with a large grin on his face and the backyard's water hose in his hands.

"Hey guys, check it out. I found the…"his sentence was brought to a sudden halt as he saw a frowning Red, "It's Red! Run for it!"

And after dropping the hose on to the floor Kelso bolted out of the house as fast as he could, making Hyde chuckle a little and Red shake his head.

"Well, most of them do."

_**The End**_

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Soo what did you think? Yay? Nay? Applause? Silence? Lemme know what you think!_

_Really hope you all liked it! Thanks again for all the reviews and support!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, take care, and have a nice day!_


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